Lying at the Breakfast Table
by GoldenGirl
Summary: Sarah is at the Bartowski home fo breakfast. Short standalone.


Title: Lying at the Breakfast Table  
Spoilers: None!  
Rating: PG-13  
Word Count: 856  
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or any other character.

Sarah was up early. Even though it was a weekend and she didn't have to report to the Weinerliscious, she was still up way earlier than most people should be on weekends. She let Chuck sleep in, left him in his room while she tippy-toed her way into the kitchen to rummage through the cabinets.

There was a good variety of breakfast foods at the Bartowski home, more so than at her own apartment. Which is to say there were breakfast foods at the Bartowski home. Eggs would take too long and toast would probably be too loud. Not wanting to wake anyone she settled on cereal and picked the box that looked like it had the least colorful flakes. Without making too much noise she found herself a spoon and a bowl.

"Morning!"

She nearly spilled the milk she was pouring when she turned to see who had walked in on her. 

"Awesome!"

He smiled.

"I mean, Devon. Hi. Good morning."

He walked past her to grab the cereal box with the most colorful flakes, his smile widening as he went. "A very good morning, I see." He winked and would've given her a high five had he known her a bit better.

For the longest time she'd hoped that either Ellie or Awesome would find her like this; early in the morning coming out of Chuck's room perhaps, or late at night ducking into his room. It would have been the ideal situation in order to maintain their cover. But this morning she genuinely just wanted breakfast. Wearing little more than a large men's t-shirt she was ill-prepared to put up with a charade. Awesome on the other hand was fully dressed in his blue scrubs, and if his enormous grin was any indication, eager to talk. She suddenly felt very shy.

"What are you doing up so early?" She asked off the top of her head.

"I've got rounds," he explained, settling into a stool by the counter. "What about you?"

She shrugged. "I'm an early riser."  
He couldn't stop smiling at her and it wasn't helping her sudden shyness any. She remembered her bowl of cereal, getting soggier by the minute, and distracted herself by grabbing it and taking the seat next to Awesome.

"I didn't know you spent the night," he said conversationally.

"It sort of just happened," she answered, dunking her spoon in the mush. Usually when she stayed over at Chuck's it was a planned event. But the mission they were on last night wasn't planned and had lasted longer than they'd expected. After dropping Chuck off in the middle of the night she ended up staying over herself. It was why she hadn't packed her own pajamas and was now wearing one of Chuck's old t-shirts.

"That's awesome. Good for you. And for Chuck."

She smiled and the action made her bring her hand up to her cheek.

"Ouch, you want me take a look at that?" 

Sarah turned to face him and saw that he was looking at her jaw, where she suddenly remembered she'd been hurt on the mission. "Oh, it's nothing."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." She racked her brain to think of an explanation, kicking herself for being caught so off-guard. "I fell," she said meekly. "We were playing tennis and I fell."

"Chuck playing tennis?" Awesome asked, his voice rife with skepticism. He narrowed his eyes."You're lying."

_Tennis?_ she asked herself incredulously. Chuck didn't play sports. And if he did they were the kind of sports that didn't even count as sports. _Miniature golf! Ping pong! Bowling!_ her mind screamed. Any of those would've been suffice, but no, she had to pick _her_ favorite sport rather than the one Chuck would be most likely to play. She opened her mouth to try and say something, save herself from the lie, but she was sidetracked by Awesome's widening grin. "No need to explain, Sarah," he said, chuckling. "If you and Chuck like to play rough that's your own business."

She had no choice but to smile and feign embarrassment, though there was really very little to feign.

"Chuck's like a little brother to me. And if you make him happy then that makes me happy. Just remember to be gentle," he said, good-natured. "He's kind of a wimp."

With that Awesome got up and cleared his bowl from the counter. "Ok, off to work!" he declared. "Early morning hug?"

Sarah tippy-toed back into Chuck's bedroom. He was still asleep when she slipped under the covers but he stirred when he felt her body next to his again.

"I just had breakfast with Awesome," she said.

Chuck, his eyes still closed, moaned a sound in response. Sarah smiled to herself and let her arm slink around his waist as memories from last night, specifically the time she spent in Chuck's room, in Chuck's bed, after the mission, passed through her mind. She kissed Chuck and felt his lips turn up into a smile beneath her own. "He thinks you like it rough," she whispered.

Chuck's eyes flew open.


End file.
